If you don’t have your health, nothing else matters. I’m aware of that every single day. Probably for any medical condition out there, they’ll tell you to eat healthy foods, sleep, and exercise. This will minimize the effects of whatever you have.

Find a physical activity that you enjoy. When you’re doing something physical, it’s like meditation—they call it “moving” meditation. When you’re totally focused on that physical activity, it can be a meditation for you.

Although a healthy lifestyle can mean different things to different people, there are basic things that you should be aware of and incorporate, at least in part, slowly into your daily routine:

• Exercise. Get a Fitbit, fitness ring, Apple Watch or tracker. They monitor your activity, hold you accountable, and make you more aware of your inactivity!
• Food. Try to eat healthier food. I’ve become very aware of processed foods, and personally, I try to stay away from them. Natural or organic doesn’t mean anything in and of itself, you have to look at the label. Make an effort to minimize the chemicals you put into your body. I prefer to eat fruits and vegetables.
• Medical. Get all your preventative checkups. I get all my visits done; I go to my doctor, dermatologist, eye doctor, and chiropractor. I want to know the status of my health, my numbers, and lab results like PSA, cholesterol, and triglycerides so I can track them.
• Personality. How you approach your health affects every relationship in your life. If you’re always stressed out and it’s affecting your relationships, maybe you need to talk to a counselor.
• Sleep. Get at least eight hours sleep. It’s more important than you think.
• Weight. I have a “fighting” weight range, and I manage what I eat so I can stay within it. Find your range, work to stay within it, and cut yourself some slack!
  

If you don’t have your health, really, nothing else matters!

Take care of your health–it’s your temple. I push my physical abilities right to the cutting edge. I’m not without pain, but it’s important to push myself because it also helps me in business. Managing weight is probably the number one thing people struggle with. The key to success is to set small goals and accomplish them. Make three small goals for the month. Nothing big like totally changing your breakfast. For example, I want to stay between 147 and 152 pounds. When I get to 147, I allow myself to eat a little more. But when I get to 152 or above, I freak out. I’m at 1521/2 right now. So I start to watch what I eat and be more active when possible. I had a sore left elbow and I had to stop barefooting. I took up mountain bike riding and it made the elbow worse. But I figured out that if I ride certain types of trails, even as hard as I can, my elbow is fine. So now my goal is to ride at least three days a week instead of only one and watch what I eat more carefully. (I hate processed foods.)

Any change that you make needs to become a part of your lifestyle. The journey never ends.
—Mike Holt